Below, Ray, along with Robbins and Dean, share the story behind the hit single.

Jimmy Robbins: Barry and I were actually on the road with Thomas at the time … [We were in] Columbus, [Ohio], and Thomas was sleeping in. I wrote “It Goes Like This” for him, and that was on the radio at the time, and so we went out to write. He slept in, and so Barry and I had a little dude date. We drove around Columbus and went to a museum.

Barry Dean: After all the things that we wrote -- [and] it went No. 1 four years [later] to the week. Four years to the week that it was written, it went No. 1. That’s an amazing thing.

Robbins: It’s very fun to see a song, and the life of the song, and to know that a good song can win over time. It was very, very cool for me.

Michael Ray: Travis Gordon from Universal played it for us. The first time I heard it and I heard TR singing it, I thought, “He’s obviously going to cut the song.” It was one of the songs you heard and you were like, “This is a hit,” from the demo.

I was like, “Man, I would love to cut the song, but obviously, TR ...“ [Gordon] goes, “No, TR’s done cutting," and I was like, “Then, yes, I want it right now.”

I’ve said this a lot lately, but it’s been the song that I don’t have to introduce anymore. People hear the front riff, and then you see it live ... I was just able to, thankfully, be very lucky to be the guy they let take their creation and take it out to the world.

Being able to have a song like that, it’s kind of like -- my first concert was Garth Brooks, and when he played the first lick to “Friends in Low Places” -- he doesn’t even say anything. He just goes [mimics the opening chords of "Friends in Low Places"], but he does it and the whole place erupts; you don’t even have to say anything. I’m like, “I want one of those.” And for me, “Think a Little Less” is that for me. We play it, and as soon as my guitar player hits it …